I can’t say this is one of the more adventurous items on my Life List, but it’s on the list nonetheless. I don’t know when it was officially added to my list, but I’m pretty sure it’s been something I wanted to do since I saw it on a television show decades ago. It was never really something I felt like I should go out of my way to do and having found our way there while visiting Melissa’s grandmother in San Jose, I can confirm that is the case.
I was actually somewhat nervous about it after reading a bunch of less than favorable reviews on Yelp. Many complained of traffic, crowds, dust and scorching hot weather; all things I’m not particularly excited about. I’d actually considered not going, but finding ourselves a mere 30 minutes away on the weekend it was being held… with nothing to do… made it hard to ignore. We decided to make a go of it on Friday, minimizing traffic/crowds, and getting out of the house in the process.
If you’d asked me what I thought I’d find at the festival a decade ago, I’d say I imagined people being dunked into giant vats of garlic and eating their way free. It was to be a magical wonderland where you walked on paths of roasted garlic and you came away reeking of the stuff for days on end. Through the magic of the internet and aging into the realization that things generally get boiled down into the lowest common denominator, I knew we wouldn’t find the Festival of my youth. What we did find, however, wasn’t that far off from what my 30-something self’s expectations.
If I’m honest, it’s nothing more than a county fair with slight tinge of a garlic theme. There are not vats or paths of garlic, but rather a whole host of food and craft vendors with only a handful choosing to fully embrace an obsession with garlic. Now tat I think about it, I don’t know that anything we ate or considered buying really had anything to do with garlic at all. There were definitely options, but we opted to wait in a line with five people for things like gator tail and friend green tomatoes rather than a line of 20 people for fries covered in minced garlic. Oh and I totally bought a linen newsboys-style cap (because my wool one doesn’t exact work for summer) instead of a garlic bulb hat.
So, would I recommend it? If you are traveling for it, no. If you are so in love with garlic that you can’t imagine attending a watered down festival in it’s name, no. If you find yourself in the area and are looking for a decent way to spend an afternoon, yes. If you like a county fair atmosphere and plan to spend $60 for a souvenir metal cup and four beers for the pair of you, hell yeah. Regardless, I’m glad we did and I’m glad I can now cross it off my list.